Friday, February 19, 2016

Friday Thoughts

Thoughts. Got tons of them. One that has been on my mind
lately has been confidence vs cockiness, especially with health and fitness.

I used to find myself watching videos of women or pausing during
conversation to question “is she being cocky?”. Sometimes yes, sometimes no,
but I’m learning now that there is a difference. Growing up, beauty was defined
by stick figure models and having thin everything. I didn’t pay too much
attention to these things (I was a tomboy and really only cared about
collecting pebbles in my overalls), but a lot of girls grew up defining who
they were based off what society told them. "Thin was in", so they said. It was
and is sad and I mean that in a very sincere way. But just this morning I was
talking to a friend about the women now (Demi Lovato, Ashley Graham, even Jennifer Lawrence) re-defining what beauty is. I feel like we are experiencing a shift right now. A shift from skinny and unhealthy, to
strong, feminine and oh, so healthy. And from this comes confidence.

For all of my life I have shied away from compliments and
froze while the kind person waited for my response. I thought that if I gave in
to their compliment that they would think my response was cocky and that I
thought so highly of myself. So I would bashfully say “thanks” are carry on by
changing the subject. At the beginning of the year I really started to notice a
change in my figure due to Crossfit. Happy changes; ones that I am proud of. I was committed and dedicated and with that came an expectation of results. Someone recently gave me a compliment about my “flat tummy” and I
stopped to pause on their words. Instead of blushing and carrying on, I soaked in their comment and was proud. I have worked hard on my fitness and am the
happiest I have ever been. Before, I thought accepting a compliment and taking pride in my accomplishments was cockiness but now I realize that is confidence. Confidence comes
with ownership and I can confidently say that I am owning my health.

Basically this post is directed to my mind, and telling myself
to give credit where credit is due. Too many of us are so hard on ourselves
because we don’t match a picture in a magazine or have the body type of a
famous celeb. We are all so differently shaped and there is no way in hell that
I will ever look like 1990s Tyra Banks. Let’s all just be realistic,
set real goals, and be confident and proud of the work we do put in.
Also, if a woman shows off confidence of something she has obtained, let her
own the moment and shower her. You create the line of what’s cocky and what’s
not and if a compliment is directed at you take it graciously, and know your
hard work is paying off. We’ve got this ladies (and gentlemen)!! Let’s all be
confident together!